All Being Well

DEREK Adams is carefully assessing the fitness of a number of Argyle players ahead of not just their game against Hartlepool United, but also their play-off meeting with Portsmouth.

The Greens go into Saturday's game with even more reason to maintain as healthy a squad as possible, with the first leg of their post-season clash with Pompey set for Thursday evening. As expected, the boss will not be looking to take risks this weekend on players who are not fully fit, whilst still setting his side up best for victory.

"We've got five or six that will be out for Saturday - out injured or illness," said Derek.

"If they're struggling with injury or they're 50/50, 75/25 or whatever it is, then they'll not play. There's a wee bit of illness going around the squad at this moment in time, and we just have to deal with that in the best possible way.

"I would hazard a guess that we would have near enough a full strength side going into the play-offs next Thursday."

Two confirmed absentees for Saturday's game at Home Park are Carl McHugh and Reuben Reid - the latter missing out on last week's draw with Cambridge United, whilst the former was substituted in the second half. Peter Hartley was also brought off last weekend after seemingly tweaking his hamstring, but Derek is more positive about the central defender's availability.

"We've still got Carl McHugh and Reuben Reid that will definitely miss Saturday's game," said Adams, "both of them haven't trained this week.

"He's trained today, Peter Hartley. He'll be fine for Saturday."